Imanishi Japanese Kitchen

Great izakaya-​like spot, would definitely recommend. We ordered pretty much the entire menu with house sake — delicious, all of it. The corn kakiage, tai carpaccio and tebasaki chicken wings were a-​maz-​ing, the potato salad we could have gone without. Overall a sweet spot for drinks and plates.

Overall experience: 8.5÷10
Food: 8.5÷10
Atmosphere: 8.5÷10
Service: ⁹⁄₁₀
What a wonderful, cute, quaint restaurant in the Ossington area. If you are looking for something different, but something very Japanese, highly recommend!
The place is small and warm, and the service is attentive. Some food is definitely better than others, hits for me were the ramen, octopus (comes with celery) and the sashimi special.
A huge win in terms of bang for buck. The sashimi special made up 25% of our cost. Without which, we would have been equally satisfied, and bill would have been that much lower.
THE BOTTOM LINE: fantastic value, yummy non-​traditional Japanese fare and a warm environment.

This is without a doubt my fave new phở place! The flavour of everything we had was amazing and the spices added great zest to all the dishes! They have nice seating options of either a wrap around wooden bench or various tables. They offer drinks specials where they have sake and option for liter beer draughts which pair nicely with each meal. The broth for the phở had a great taste! Service was very fast and friendly. Definitely will return soon

Fantastic food! The Sashimi, fried corn, beef tartare and sake were all delicious. Highly recommend this place

The storefront sign is still from the previous bar & grill establishment, and with casual café-​style décor one could easily miss this humble izakaya from outside. The wooden stools could be a bit uncomfortable, I would suggest the tables in the back since those ones at least have padded back seating built against the wall. The restaurant is not as noisy as other typical izakaya, you won’t hear the staff chanting here, which is nice if you want a quiet meal. Another bonus point, they take reservation here.
The food menu is a simple one-​page list of appetizers and teishoku (set menu with miso soup and rice). We ordered Anchovy Potato Salad, Tomato Salad, Agedashi Egg Plant, Tako Celery, Beef Tataki, Corn Kakiage, Curry Spring Roll, Tebasaki (chicken wings), Chicken Nanban Teishoku (deep fried chicken thigh), and Katsu Curry Rice. Some dishes were uncommon but very welcomed by the group, like the Stingray Fin and Corn Kakiage. The Stingray Fin was not on the menu and was complimentary. It was soft, chewy and aromatic, tasted like dried shredded squid and went well with beer. Corn Kakiage was corn kernels tempura, light and savoury, we loved this dish so much we had 6 orders of it. Beef Tataki was sliced seared beef with red onions and deep dried chick peas, I normally do not eat rare beef, but this dish was tasty and melted in my mouth. The rest of the dishes were delicious as well.
For refreshments, I had the Jasmin-​Hi, Umeboshi Sour, and Oolong-​Hi. Jasmin-​Hi was Jasmine tea mixed with shochu, this drink was quite refreshing. Umeboshi Sour consisted of salted plum, shiso, soda and shochu. The crushed up plum cocktail was sweet and salty, it worked well as a digestif. Oolong-​Hi (Oolong tea x shochu) was also a delightful little drink.
For dessert I had a Taro Ice Cream, which was sprinkled with buckwheat tea on top. The aromatic and crispy buckwheat tea really enhanced the sweetness of the taro ice cream.
We were offered some Kirakucho Tokubetsu Junmai Sake at the end of our marathon meal. It was dry and silky, nicely balanced and went down smoothly.
Everyone enjoyed the meal and service at this hidden gem, would definitely come back to try out other dishes.

You will not find imanishi at first glance even with Google Street view. It will appear to be a euro styled café from the outside. Once you park and walk right upto the front steps… you’ll see imanishi imprinted neatly on the bottom right corner of the front window.
Very simple and trendy décor, neat coat racks, wonderful music, clean and wood trimmed. Good space for talking and not overly loud or quiet. Horrendously uncomfortable stools to sit on. Only draw back. And well. i was corrected on how to pronounce the cocktail «aloe-​hi».
Staff is very good at their job. Both front of house and kitchen staff.
Just order the whole menu. My favourite item was the eggplant.
The sushi isn’t great.
But everything else was very good. Please try. I highly recommend.

Imanishi is fantastic.
This is everything you want in a neighborhood joint. Friendly, welcoming, cool, super fun. It’s a gorgeous space, decorated with genuine Japanese hipster cred.
The food is awesome — these are real Japanese flavours! They are doing everything right here. We had the the Cold Served Agedashi Eggplant, the Guai Lan Gomaae, Tai Carpaccio, Curry Spring Roll, Saba Miso-​ni, and Taro ice cream. All were beautifully presented, with unique takes on izakaya faves, like the Guai Lan greens instead of the traditional spinach in gomaae. It works! It all works. I would order everything on that list again, a million times. Cocktails were also very good, as were the comp Jameson shots we had the pleasure of sharing with the owner, Daisuke. Thanks so much dude!
At 10pm on Th night, they were already sold out of Tebasaki chicken wings. I will be back VERY SOON to try these — haven’t been able to find any proper tebasaki since leaving So Cal a long time ago… there are whole restaurants devoted to tebasaki in LA, it’s about time we had tebasaki in TO. Cannot wait to try, and will definitely be spending a lot of time at Imanishi, even when the wings are sold out. ;)

This is not your conventional sushi joint.
They serve small sharing dishes great to nibble on while sipping on plum wine,
We ordered the guai lan, squid, mackerel, the ginger onion sake pork. These were all tasty but the best dish was surprisingly the corn tempura.
The drinks I had were served as pure liquor on the rocks … I was not impressed so I decided to stick to plum wine after that. Their cocktail list could improve.
Good spot for a casual date.
Reservations are recommended as this place was packed on a Thursday night.

Great spot with a different style of Japanese food. Definitely a nice step away from your tepanyaki, guu style resto, or sushi/​ramen.
The ika mariyaku is a whole grilled sliced squid — great for sharing and a larger portion. The makarel is deliberately not deboned (be careful), but it is extremely tasty otherwise. The corn tempura was light and sweet. They also have these small set meals that come with rice and miso soup. We tried the pork which was a little bland, but still good — I’d try the fried chicken next time.
The plum wine is to die for! The interior of the restaurant has a neat authentic japanese feel to it too with the vinyl interlocking flooring. I really enjoyed this place and would recommend it.

Great atmosphere and food! I loved everything that I tried, but the ginger onion sake pork was my favourite!

Amazing place with great food !!
Highly recommend everyone check this place out.
Really comfortable atmosphere, friendly service and awesome food!
Try the fried chicken thighs!
My girlfriend and I will be making this place a regular stop for dinner

A very homie bar /​restaurant with great food. Accommodating staff and great music play list.
We tried almost everything on the tapa menu and some stand outs are: Beef tartare, anchovy potato salad, and chicken wings.
This restaurant is a great addition to the neighbourhood and the vibe and food can attest to it. I think we found our new hangout!
PS. We liked the music so much and the owner came to talk to us about it!

Everything from the food and cocktails to service and atmosphere are exceptional. It’s homey and welcoming all the while being very traditional. A must go-​to before it gets wildly busy!